New Delhi: The BJP is reportedly finalised its candidates for nearly 110 seats for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, which are scheduled for November 20. The party plans to contest over 150 seats, leaving the remaining seats for its Mahayuti allies – the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar).
According to sources, for arriving at the final seat sharing formula with the allies, the party has asked Home Minister Amit Shah to take the lead. Shah has earlier held several rounds of discussions with Shinde and other alliance leaders.
The BJP had won 105 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections when the undivided Shiv Sena was its ally. That time the BJP had contested 152 seats while the Shiv Sena had fought 124. They had left the remaining 10 for their National Democratic Alliance partners.
This time, however, the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray is pitted against the BJP and is contesting as a Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partner of the Congress and NCP (SP). The BJP, however, wants to be seen as the major player in the Mahayuti alliance and is therefore insisting on contesting at least as many seats as it did in 2019 if not 155-165 as many are predicting.
Nearly 120 seats had come up for discussion during the party’s Central Election Committee meeting on Wednesday and these were mostly those which the party had won in 2019. The first list of the party, sources said, would also be drawn primarily from these seats.
The CEC meeting was also attended by party national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah also decided that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address one rally each in all the six divisions of the state. It also authorised Union Minister and state in-charge Bhupendra Yadav to ensure that candidates who are denied tickets are pacified and do not contest as rebels or work against the party’s interests.
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